Ranma Partial
by Arielle Brix
Summary: Instead of getting a full curse, Ranma just has a few drops hit him in a very crucial spot. It has cascading effects from there. On top of that Ranma will have to deal with supervillains and Endbringers, because life's just fun that way.
1. Chapter 1

Ranma Partial

Author Notes:

This is a Ranma ½ & Worm crossover fanfiction (Worm slowly folds in after first twenty pages).

Crossposted at AO3 w/newest chapters available at Lycelia dot com  
Basic premise: **skip to next line break to avoid minor spoilers**

Instead of getting a full curse, Ranma just has a few drops hit him in a very crucial spot. It has cascading effects from there. It's a premise that I'm sort of surprised I haven't seen before in the Ranma fandom.  
Besides the basic premise there's a few other points of AU. It occurs pre-Worm timeline. And as far as Ranma goes, I didn't go with the typical fanon interpretation that Ranma manages to pull off a full education during his occasional month or two of schooling thanks to his super-smarts. Instead this Ranma is thoroughly uneducated, spends a lot of time around monks that don't speak his language, and he's only marginally literate. But maybe he'll grow.

* * *

**Chapter One**

_Ranma_

"A panda?!" I leapt back, barely maintaining my balance on the poles thanks to my surprise. It was a job made all the more difficult when the panda went on the attack. Fending off powerful blows from the bear was nearly impossible when each strike shattered the pole under my feet. Not even my growing control over key could keep them intact against the bear's furious onslaught.

'_Pops?'_ Suddenly the muddled warning from the guide's broken Japanese finally made sense. The springs really were cursed. Terribly, terribly cursed. And unfortunately Pops was too stupid to have noticed yet and stopped trying to toss me in one. It was a failing that others might have blamed on him suddenly having a panda brain but I knew him well enough to guess that he was just too focused on getting me back for winning the first bout. He was getting a bit sensitive with age now that I was starting to beat him more often.

His weight and bear blubber made up for what little he'd lost in agility and before I knew it I was flying — and not under my own power.

"I don't want to be a panda!" A cursed pool was coming up fast, even with my heightened reflexes. I tried to slow myself down but there was little that even I, greatest martial artist of my generation, could do against gravity. My ki could extend leaps but fighting gravity and the force of my pandafied father's blow combined was well beyond my capabilities.

Instinct told me to prepare myself for the landing but my instincts had never come up against cursed water before. Despite the spring's seeming purity I knew that at all costs I absolutely couldn't let myself touch the water.

I circulated all the ki through my body that I could manage and flung my arms and legs out wide. My hands and feet hit the sand around the pond a split-second later. My bones and tendons creaked from the awkward position of the impact but they held, just barely. My face was so close to the water that I could almost taste it, humid air tickling my throat as I breathed in in relief.

A panda paw gripped me and for a moment I thought my victory was about to turn into bitter defeat. But instead panda-Pops flipped me back upright onto solid ground. He babbled in bear-speak incoherently but I had a feeling I knew what he was saying. '_Yeah dummy, the springs are cursed. Way to figure it out before you cursed your only son.'_

"Yeah dummy, way to figure it out. What gave it away, your fur?" My self-censoring might need work because he nearly swatted be back towards the spring before he caught himself.

The useless guide chose that moment to pipe up again. "Honored customer almost fell in Spring of Drowned Girl! Very tragic story!"

"Girl!?" "Growf?!"

What a fate that would have been. At least a panda could still fight. How would I ever become the greatest martial artist the world had ever seen if I'd become some weak girl. Truly a fate worse than death.

I followed in a daze as the guide lead us to the cabin. Apparently there was a cure so it wouldn't have been the end of the world but still, seriously eerie. What did being a girl feel like anyways, they hardly seemed like the same species. I hadn't ever really talked to one but according to Pops they weren't very smart on top of being weak and fragile. I might've ended up even dumber than pops if I hadn't caught myself. "Close one," I whispered.

'_That's odd.'_ I coughed and massaged my throat. My voice wasn't normally so high. Was I picking up a cold from all time we'd spent in the mountains? Either that or it was that dreaded puberty thing I'd heard mentioned back during the month I spent at an all-boys middle school. I didn't know much about it, but one of the older kids had his voice go all wonky and all the other boys made fun of him. Hopefully I'd be over it before we hit civilization again.

When a pot of simple hot water transformed hot water transformed my dad back into a human I just had to speak up. I was careful to pitch my voice downward though, an effort that was mostly successful. "That's it? You cured him with hot water? Can you even call that a curse? Sounds more like a prank to me."

"Shut up boy."

I was caught off guard by his renewed human speed so his cuff caught me in the back of the head. I glared at him but said nothing. Prank curse or not, I didn't care to have another fight carry us in the direction of the springs again.

"Ahh!" I screamed ear-piercingly high as with a splash of water a panda popped back up in front of me. Panda-pops winced from the sound before trying (and this time narrowly failing) to cuff me again.

"Cold water change back," explained the guide.

'_Woah. Not a prank curse.'_ I stayed silent as Pops tried to get a real cure from the guide, muddling through his rough Japanese. Unfortunately none seemed forthcoming. Turning my dad into a panda for a day was sort of hilarious but this was actually sort of serious. I supposed it would give me more variety for sparring though so it wasn't all bad. It wasn't like we stayed long enough in most places for people to figure out his curse anyways.

By the time the guide started mentioning some nonsense about Chinese Amazons Pops had had enough. "Come on boy, we're going back to Japan."

"Really? _Finally_." We'd been travelling through China for a year now, and India for a year before that. It was neat to learn from so many masters of various martial arts disciplines but it would be nice to finally be able to speak to other people without relying on hand gestures. I'd learned a few words here and there but half of them always turned out to be useless when we traveled a mere hundred miles and stumbled into a new dialect of the very language I thought I was learning.

"Man up boy, you sound like a girl."

"I don't sound like a girl," I grumbled. '_Wait…' _Did I actually sound like a girl? I was still pitching my voice down to correct for whatever was going on with my throat but it didn't sound quite right. I wasn't going to say that it sounded like a girl's, especially not the chirpy high voice that so many Japanese girls seemed to favor, but it didn't sound exactly like a boy's either.

I hardly wanted to consider it, but was it possible I'd been cursed too? There was only one way to be sure.

For the most part I disapproved of my father's stealing ways, but I did make a personal exception for food. And so with skill long honed by martial arts nd hunger I snatched a large spoonful of soup from the guide's pot without his notice.

'_Needs more salt.'_ But the flavor wasn't what was truly important. While racing after my departing father I whispered, "Testing, testing."

'_I sound normal again…' _Under other circumstances that would be a good thing, but sadly this meant my suspicion was correct. I'd been cursed with a girl's voice of all things, seriously complicating my quest to become a man amongst men. I was sullen as we plodded along a high mountain pass away from the springs but gradually I approached a sort of acceptance. It could've been worse after all. And if I drank hot tea more often then I wouldn't have to worry about sounding like a weak girl. No one would ever need to know, my father least of all.

Sadly it wasn't too long before I had to give in and take a sip of water from my water bottle. A little tickle in my throat was the only sign of the change but a few cautious mumbles revealed quite clearly that my voice had gone up an octave or two. I was well and truly cursed, and no amount of massaging of my throat was able to change it. It seemed like I wouldn't be doing much talking until we got back to Japan where hot tea was more readily available.

* * *

Normally when on the move we kept walking well after sunset but a sudden rainfall had us stopping early as panda-Pops desperately started boiling water to transform back. Meanwhile I set off into the bushes to answer the call of nature.

Only my practice in not speaking all afternoon kept me from letting out another girly shriek as I discovered something truly terrible. '_It's gone!'_

I'd had it all my life that I could remember but now, inexplicably, it was gone. I didn't know what to do or how to fix it, but before anything else I actually _really_ needed to pee. Without seemingly anything for it to come out of I wasn't exactly sure how though. After a few jittery moments I squatted and hoped for the best.

'_Well that, err… mostly worked.'_ It seemed undignified though.

I was able to think a little more clearly now that I was relieved of the pressure. The natural answer came swiftly enough. '_My throat wasn't the only thing that got cursed.'_ Had my desperate suspension over the spring of drowned girl left me low enough that my thing had touched it?

'_No. It can't be.'_ There was no way that this was what girls looked like under their skirts. It just looked too weird to be human. Too useless too. Dad always said girls were useless but this was just too much. I must have gotten splashed with some other spring when I was fighting Pops. Maybe a male dolphin. They were ocean animals so they had no need to point when they peed. That made sense.

I made doubly certain to ensure my gi pants were on tight before heading back towards the fire. I absolutely couldn't afford any slips while I was like this. My dad was the last person I wanted figuring out I was cursed in such an embarrassing way. The quicker I could get some hot water and change back the better.

I barely kept myself from shouting as panda-Pops poured the whole pot of water on himself right as I came into view. Turning back was going to be harder than I thought. I couldn't let him know how badly I wanted hot water or he might figure out that I was cursed as well. Traveling the world with my dad was starting to be a serious drag.

'_I can't wait until we get back to Japan.'_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two**

Days passed without me getting more than enough hot water to make small tisanes from wild mint plants. I wasn't sure how much water Pops needed to change back to human but he always took the lion's share to be safe.

It didn't take long to grow tired of my self-enforced silence. I ended up taking a different tack. While my voice was like a girl's (which unfortunately was most of the time) I pitched it as low as I could manage, and when it was like a boy's I pitched it higher. Purposely raising my pitch like that made me feel awfully silly but it was necessary for my disguise. The contrary pitch directions kept my different voices close enough that Pops couldn't tell the difference. Unless we found a real cure it was the best I could do for the time being.

* * *

Over the course of the week I occasionally found time to experiment when Pops was napping. Eventually I figured out that through a combination of excellent muscle control and spreading the strange folds I could pee standing up with a fair degree of success. It wasn't perfect and I wasn't sure I'd dare do it in any public bathrooms but out in the wilderness it was enough to get by. I felt like a small measure of my pride and dignity was restored.

I was almost annoyed when I at last got my hands on enough hot water to change my groin back to normal and rendered my accomplishment meaningless. Well, at least until another sudden drenching rainfall changed it back.

'_Well, at least I know I can go back to normal now if I get the chance.'_ Despite seeing my father turn back time and time again I'd still been a little worried that something as simple as hot water wouldn't be able to return my groin to its natural state.

At least my dad's reluctance to bathe lately had allowed me to wash up alone in the rivers we passed. The stink he was starting to pick up despite all the rain was a fair price to pay for privacy concerning my condition. Not that privacy was _all_ that I wished for. It was clear that winter was coming. The chill waters from the mountains raised goosebumps along my skin and my nipples crinkled tighter than I thought they'd ever done before. Even in midwinter the rivers of India had been warmer than this.

* * *

Dad's mood grew darker as we trekked closer to the coast, only his win streak in our boy vs giant panda spars serving to cheer him. I was pretty sure I could win if I took advantage of how his limbs didn't bend quite the same way anymore but I was wary of worsening his mood further and instead fought with the handicap. Hopefully he'd cheer up soon. He'd switched from hogging all the hot water to not making any at all. Given his mood and the secrecy of my condition I hadn't dared make any for myself.

My resolve to forgo hot water until we made it back to Japan faltered as my mood worsened as well. At first I thought it was just from spending so much time walking with a grumpy, unintelligible panda at my side. Gradually though I began to catalogue all the little ways that I genuinely felt off. I couldn't seem to sleep right, my skin was painfully sensitive during our spars, and despite feeling terribly hungry my stomach felt strangely bloated. It was no wonder I felt irritable, but it all came to a head as the pain in my lower stomach spiked and a feeling of wetness filled my underwear.

It was the middle of the night and wolves were howling into the frigid air but I couldn't let this go. I left my sleeping bag behind and trekked over to a nearby stream. I'd thought I had my bladder issues all worked out but I was prepared to wash my underwear if I had to. What I found when I pulled down my pants was worse than I'd imagined.

"What the heck!" Even in the moonlight it was clear that I was dealing with blood. Always a man of action, I immediately set to washing it before any panda or wolf noses could scent it. Unfortunately that didn't solve the main problem as it didn't take me long to realize that I was still bleeding from my new, strange anatomy.

'_Am I dying?' _It seemed like the only answer that made any sense. Whatever part I had must've come from some short-lived creature that died after a matter of weeks. I needed to get hot water as fast as possible and hope it reset the process.

I left my underwear to dry, scurrying back to the camp with my hand down my pants to hold my slit closed as best I could manage against the steady leak of blood.

When I got back to the river I nearly broke the fling in my hurry but after a few tries I had a little flame going. I didn't have to turn my whole body back like Pops did so I only set a little water in the pot so that it would heat up faster.

While the water was warming I stepped pantsless into the little stream to try to wash up. It was incredibly hard to remain calm in such a position with wolves howling in the dark and facing my potential death via magical curse but this wasn't the first time I'd faced death. As Pops always said, the life of a martial artist was full of peril.

The second the water seemed warm enough I cast it on my groin, water hot against my chilled and sensitive flesh. My penis reappeared for a few seconds before water dropping from my gi top transformed it back, but it was enough. I felt miles better in both body and mind. Even my mood felt better, soothing warmth replacing the headache I'd been feeling for days. It was like some vital element of my body had been restored and now it could work properly again. In some ways I felt even more refreshed and happy than I remembered feeling with normal guy parts, though maybe that was just relief from not bleeding anymore.

I started doing stretches near the fire to warm up from my dip in the river as I waited to dry. As I thought about it I realized this wasn't the first time I'd felt so good. The first time, right before I changed back, I'd been feeling less peppy. Maybe that was just from taking a week to get my hands on hot water to use privately but despite being normal only briefly I'd felt much better once I changed back again. It seemed like whatever parts I had were only in top condition for a few days. After that it was a slow trek downwards before reaching a steep cliff.

'_I guess I have to change back more often.'_ Solidarity with my pandafied father was nice and all but I wasn't letting it go this far again. Refreshing my changed groin every few days seemed ideal, a week at most. It was good for my health and good for my mood, I'd just have to sneak out at night again if I had to.

After carefully drying my underwear over the fire I redressed and snuck back into my bedroll with far more optimism than I'd had in days. I didn't like being cursed but I was learning to how to live with it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

I'd started winning against Pops again, at least some of the time. There was a limit to how much I was willing to play to his mood and he'd long since reached it. It was really for the best that I pointed out his weaknesses anyways (with my fists). Bit by bit he learned to account for most of them and in doing so pushed my further as well.

I was learning, much like he was. Unlike his tradeoff of human flexibility for panda strength and endurance, my changes seemed to be purely beneficial now that I'd figured out how often I needed to reset things. It was a rather slight difference but without my normal parts in the way I had a little more room to maneuver my legs. There were a few experimental twists and high kicks that I'd struggled with in the past that were now far, far easier. It was a little bonus that made me far less hostile towards magical curses. So long as no one ever figured out I had strange animal parts between my legs I didn't mind the advantage in fighting. It was what I lived for after all.

One annoyance had made it harder to focus on practicing katas during downtimes than I would have liked. My guess that it was from all the times we'd gotten soaked over the past few weeks but I was pretty sure my gi (currently my only clothing save for a few pairs of underwear) had picked up a fungus of some sort. It made my skin itch like crazy, my chest in particular. I tried not to scratch it, scratching seemed to almost make it worse.

By the time we reached a town I was nearly mad with irritation. If not for the cold weather I would've taken off my shirt days ago. I'd done my best to hold it in place whenever we were walking but even with my best efforts my nipples were swollen red and nearly bleeding from rubbing against the gi. They and my chest were definitely the worst off but my skin in general wasn't doing very well. My growing ability with ki healing techniques helped heal the damage when I had a chance to meditate but inevitably a day of walking would reverse all my progress. I was working on walking meditation but so far my chest was too much of a distraction to pull it off. And the less said about my underwear and wedgies the better. The boxers hadn't fit well since the change but they seemed to be getting worse by the day. I didn't know if I was going through a growth spurt or if they were shrinking but I was about a day away from just ripping them all to pieces.

But all that was over now. We'd reached a town and it was time to shop. Not something I normally concerned myself with but I needed new clothes and I needed them now. Hopefully Pops wouldn't mind given how many times my gi had been ripped and patched this year already, and the growing tightness of the pants. I was due for some new clothes, but if he disagreed then so be it because I couldn't bear this anymore.

The moment he finished drinking himself to sleep in the early afternoon with a bottle of sake, I snatched our few coins remaining coins out of his pack and went to the market. Hopefully it would be enough. I wasn't nearly as practiced at stealing clothes as food, and I'd feel guilty about it

There were a _lot_ of options in the rural town market. Some of it homemade, others looking like they fell off a factory truck somewhere. There was a pair of black silk pants and a red silk shirt that seemed like they would be perfect. Soft against my skin, dried quickly which was great for the outdoors, and was a reasonably strong material. Harder to patch than my gi but I was getting better at protecting my clothing from damage. Unfortunately they were too expensive for me to get them both.

After a very long process of wondering whether I should just steal them I decided to compromise instead. I bought the pants but for a top I picked a thin white cotton undershirt that was like no other shirt I'd seen before. It was too sheer and clingy to function as a proper shirt but I thought it might be enough to keep the gi from directly touching my chest anymore.

I clutched the new clothes to my chest, soft fabric a delightful relief against my hands. I wanted to change immediately but I still had one stop to make. And so with a tinge of embarrassment I moved over to what I thought was the underwear section.

This was the first time I'd ever shopped for clothing by myself but the selection was so overwhelming that I wished I'd waited another fifteen years before trying. Some things I didn't recognize at all. Others looked sort of like padded chest protectors. I thought I'd seen them before in a commercial back in Japan but I couldn't quite remember what they were called. B-something? Well, hopefully my new undershirt would be enough because they were oddly expensive.

Maybe the boxers were in another section but eventually I found things that looked like the tighty-whiteys I'd worn as a kid. They were far fancier than I remembered. All sorts of different colors and designs. One even had a bear on the front which seemed rather fitting considering what had happened lately. I was sorely tempted to buy a pair but that was all I had the money for, a single pair. It hardly seemed worth it when I could instead spend my last coin on a hefty plate of rice.

'_Underwear can wait,'_ I decided. I'd just toss out my three old pairs and go without for a while. It wasn't like I had anything down there that I needed keep in place anymore. Nor would I, until we got back to Japan. Finding hot water was just too hard while traveling for underwear to be worth buying for the occasional few minutes I had my stuff back.

After changing my clothes and grabbing a big bowl of rice with the remaining money I headed back to camp. My skin felt so much better as I walked in the new clothes that I was having a strangely hard time trying not to cry. I was sure I'd sleep better than I had in weeks tonight. It did feel a little weird not having underwear on but I suspected I'd get used to the loose feeling in no time.


	4. Chapter 4

Crossposted at AO3 w/newest chapters available at Lycelia dot com

**Chapter Four**

I'd thought that with the whole panda thing we might hitch a ride on a cargo ship to get back to Japan but Pops was resolute about having us swim. He was still sore about me spending our money on clothes instead of booze so there was no changing his mind.

I made sure to briefly change my groin back to what it used to be before the chill sea water changed it back to what was slowly becoming normal for me. I felt the rejuvenation of a fresh change was over me, heat from within combatting the chill of the sea. I set out through the waves with long strokes, cutting easily through the surf.

As Pops paddled along with thick panda paws I showed off a little, surging up out of the ocean like a flying fish. A little ki extended the arc to an absurd height but I didn't put my all into it. It was still a very long swim to reach Japan from the coast of China.

Even with the grind ahead of me I was happy to be at sea. Along with fighting it seemed that my curse was beneficial for swimming. That little bit of clear space let me really put my all into kicking with no subtle deviations. The water felt great too, streaming along my smooth skin. I figured it would feel even better if I had a swim suit. Or maybe even naked. I didn't quite dare go that far, but I did shed my gi top after the first twenty miles. It was scratchy and falling apart anyways. My heavily worn shoes followed ten miles after that.

'_Much better.' _I was slipping through the water with ease now. From this alone I thought I'd make better time than the swim over to China, and that was before taking into account the increased strength and height I'd picked up over two years of training. I'd hated the swim over but I was loving this, which was perhaps another point in favor of me being cursed with dolphin parts. One of these days I'd have to find out for sure.

* * *

Despite taking a few detours to hunt fish along the way, I finished the swim in just over a day. Last time it took around three so it was a pride-worthy achievement. Pops still had another day before he'd arrive by my best guess so I settled in to wait. We'd tossed our equipment before the swim so I set to making a camp with leaves and sticks. Thankfully it was warmer on this side of sea so I wasn't too worried.

Once camp was set up I set out walking the beach. It'd been at least six years since I actually spent any time on one but I reminded myself I wasn't here for fun. Instead I was searching the beach for spare change in the hopes of buying food and a new shirt, possibly not in that order. I liked showing off my skills but showing off my abs seemed a little tacky. Wearing the sheer undershirt with nothing on over it just didn't feel quite right to me.

The beach wasn't fully deserted but it was cold enough that only a few adventurous souls were in the water. A fair few more were just enjoying the beach but it still wasn't the helter-skelter business that was perfect for finding lost cash. My worry unfortunately proved correct as in the next hour all I found was twenty yen and a few wild berries. I was sufficiently down in the dumps that I didn't immediately decline when some slightly older boys asked me to play volleyball with them. It was the chips and salsa though that really drew me in.

'_This is fun!'_ I needed to completely stifle my ki to make it sporting but that also meant that it turned out to be a fairly good workout. Not something I could do every day, but a stretch of non- ki enhanced muscles could be good from time to time.

With some good-natured complaints from the boys I rotated off the court for a short break. Another boy that was likewise resting handed me a lemon soda that hit the spot perfectly. Between the soda and the chips I was practically in heaven. And thanks to the promise of a barbecue later with hotdogs and cheeseburgers I felt confident enough not to pig out on the chips too badly. I didn't want to spoil the well after all, and so I made sure to savor each chip slowly rather than shove the whole bag in my mouth.

My abnormally good manners and excellence at volleyball certainly helped, but in general these boys sure were nicer than the ones from middle school. Even nicer than the monks in training I'd met during my travels. If they asked me to play more volleyball after the barbecue I might even accept, rather than go with the normal Saotome dine and dash.

As I sipped at the last of my soda I lingered on something that had bothered me since I reached the beach. A lot of the girls on the beach were wearing something that looked suspiciously like the protective chest covers I'd seen in China. Were they only for girls? It sure was a good thing I'd bought the undershirt instead or I could've ended up seriously embarrassed.

When the time came for the day to end I parted ways with the boys and said a warm goodbye. I felt like I was on top of the world after such a relaxing and scrumptious burger-filled day, at least until I realized how high my voice was when I said goodbye. Had I been speaking like that all day? It was a wonder they hadn't thought I was a girl. I'd let my guard down without my father around but I absolutely couldn't let this happen again.

"Oh! A shirt!" Someone had just left it behind in the sand. It was white which would make it a pain to keep clean and it had a long, strange frill at the bottom but it would have to do. I'd mostly ignored it today since I was on the beach but I really didn't want to walk around the city in just my undershirt.


End file.
